How to oil a keyed flute with lined head & lipplate?

claudine · Post by **claudine** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:18 am

I bought this flute on e-bay and hope to get it this week. The sellers says it is made of cocus, has a brasslined head and you can see the large silver lipplate. Now how shall I oil this flute? This is going to be my first keyed wooden flute, so I don't know if special attention must be paid to the corks or if the head will get enough oil with all that metal inside and outside.

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 6:08 am

Most of your oiling should be done inside the bore (everything but the headjoint, of course, whose bore is lined with metal and thus doesn't need oiling). If you want to oil the outside of the flute, you can put a drop of oil on the outside of each section of the flute and rub it around with your fingers or a cloth. Wipe off the excess.

Before you oil the bore, take some plastic wrap (the kind used for wrapping foods) and cut little squares to fit under the keys. This will prevent you from getting oil on the keypads while you oil the bore. Also put some tape over the cork on the tenons so you don't get oil on the cork.

Put a drop of oil down each of the six tone holes into the barrel, and run a clean piece of cloth up and down the barrel a few times while turning the flute (or twisting the stick with the cloth) to spread the oil out evenly in the bore. If that oil gets soaked up right away, you could put a little more in, but don't overdo it. Wait an hour or two for the oil to soak in, and then run a clean cloth up and down the barrel again to remove the excess.

On the headjoint, the only part that you might want to oil is the inside of the socket (the part where you insert the tenon on the middle section of the flute). Again, be sure to wipe off any excess oil so it doesn't soak into the cork of the tenon when you put the flute back together.

There are lots of discussions here on the Chiff and Fipple board about what kind of oil to use; check through those to see what people recommend. Just be sure to never use boiled linseed oil; it could ruin your flute.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 8:41 am

bradhurley wrote:
Before you oil the bore, take some plastic wrap (the kind used for wrapping foods) and cut little squares to fit under the keys. This will prevent you from getting oil on the keypads while you oil the bore. Also put some tape over the cork on the tenons so you don't get oil on the cork.

Put a drop of oil down each of the six tone holes into the barrel, and run a clean piece of cloth up and down the barrel a few times while turning the flute (or twisting the stick with the cloth) to spread the oil out evenly in the bore. If that oil gets soaked up right away, you could put a little more in, but don't overdo it. Wait an hour or two for the oil to soak in, and then run a clean cloth up and down the barrel again to remove the excess.

Brad, is the point where I've cut you off the stage at which you remove the plastic wrap protecting the keypads? My first keyed wooden flute arrives soon and the protection of those pads had me concerned. Unkeyed wooden flutes, no problem. Saxes and Boehm system silver flutes, no oiling. But these keyed wooden beauties look tricky.

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:12 am

I use tinfoil for the keys because it's so easy to make little key-shaped thingies.

As for covering the cork . . . why must one cover the cork? I know a lot of people tell you not to get oil on the cork, but it's bark. How does the oil hurt?

What I tend to do is put a little cork grease on the cork before I oil, but I don't wrap it with anything. . .

Stuart

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:14 am

Right. I don't remove the plastic until after I've swabbed out the flute to remove the excess oil.

The plastic wrap also helps you avoid getting any oil on the keypads if you oil the outside of the flute.

I tend to be pretty sparing in my application of oil. I've seen some people who oil their flutes so heavily that the outside is sticky, and I assume the inside is too. I would avoid that. You want the bore to remain smooth and clean.

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:19 am

Well, this is another case of hand-me-down information. I was always told to avoid getting oil on the cork, so I did. I don't know what would happen if I got oil on it...maybe the concern is that it would weaken the adhesive, making the cork peel away easier.

As with most things related to oiling, people follow certain procedures because that's the way they've been told to do it by someone (usually a flute maker or another flute player), not because there's some large body of evidence that says if you don't do it this way, your flute will be harmed.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:41 am

Cork is a kind of wood. A little oil on it won't hurt. If you're worried, give them a coat of cork grease first.

g

fluter_d · Post by **fluter_d** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:47 am

The idea of keeping oil off the cork is more a case of trying to avoid having the cork swell up, than because the oil itself will cause problems. Cork is porous; oil, like any other liquid (condensation from breath, for example), will be absorbed. This is fine if your flute is not together; if it is (or will be shortly after oiling), it's a good idea to protect the cork. Cork grease seals it well enough. However, I'd make sure to remove any excess oil from the inside of the ends that the tenons go into (I'm sure there's a technical term, but I don't know it

) - oil can easily collect there and subsequently cause problems when you reassemble the flute.
D

BillG · Post by **BillG** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:46 pm

I find oiling is easiest by leaving the flute parts together - except for the head joint - and run a long dowel with oil pad (I use shotgun cleaning pads) on the end through as described above. After about an hour I run a dry pad through to remove and polish the remaining oil. When I take the flute apart I make sure the ends of the joints are oiled as well. This way no worry about the cork or thread. On my Healy I remove the end cork (attached to an end plug so doesn't change its spot) and run the oiled pad through the whole flute thus keeping oil away from the silver tenon joints.

I use Sweet Almond Oil (skin care stuff) from a natural food store and keep it in the refrigerator.

BillG

skh · Post by **skh** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 3:54 pm

I use raw linseed oil on both recorders and (now that I have one...

) my wooden flute, and I fear that even traces of it might remember that they could become sticky while the flute is assembled, so I don't let oil get on the cork or thread, and remove any oil from the inside of the sockets immediately - they are regularly greased anyway. I do oil the ends of the tenons, though. The wood (especially on my non-blackwood recorders) soaks up the oil on the open-grained surface there like a sponge, and that part usually gets rather wet from playing.

Most of it is probably superstition that I try to back up with rational explanation

Sonja

sturob · Post by **sturob** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:31 pm

I remembered what I wanted to say about oiling!

I think it's KEY to get oil on the endgrain. All the endgrain you can find exposed. I just take a Q-tip (cotton swab) with oil on it and make sure that I get a little oil on all the endgrain, and around each of the holes (on the sides of the holes and embouchure).

Timber loses moisture MUCH more quickly through the endgrain than it does via the "faces" or sides of the timber. This is why folks seal the ends of timber left to dry . . . using wax or varnish or what-have-you.

No one ever taught me this, but it seems like a good idea, so I do it. I also do it only with non-drying oil (almond) so as not to gunk up the holes with linseed boogers.

Stuart